Vertical Turning Centers Aim for Wind and Nuclear Parts

June 22, 2010

MAG's new vertical turning centers with five to eight meter tables are engineered to make short work of large-part manufacturing for a variety of industries, including wind and nuclear, offering multiprocessing machining capabilities with high-end specifications like 2500 mm ram travel and 1500 mm minimum height under the rail. The modular machine design is built for high metal removal rates on large parts, with twin columns mounted to the base, 150,000 to 250,000 kg table load capacity, and 350 mm cross-section ram for extreme rigidity and chatter-free machining. Four models, with table diameters of five, six, seven and eight meters, are being introduced in fixed and adjustable-rail styles. All are engineered for full ram travel to either side of the table center, providing facing capacity that is one meter greater than table diameter for any given model. Powered by a 142 kW (190 hp) table drive, the five and six meter models have a maximum speed of 72 rpm and constant torque rating of 160,000 Nm (118,000 lb ft), while the seven and eight meter models have 45 rpm maximum speed and 255,000 Nm (188,000 lb ft) constant torque.

These new VTC models continue MAG's design tradition of building on an extremely rigid platform, with excellent ergonomic and operating features, according to the company's press release. Customer-driven features include use of standard modular tooling, including KM and Coromant Capto C8; green design with minimal hydraulics; energy-conservation with selectable "sleep" capability; minimal foundation requirements; and innovative chip management and removal that minimizes operator intervention. Ergonomic features include an operator platform that provides a view of the cutting zone, as well as access to the tool and tool magazine. Options for the platform include fixed position, or moveable in vertical, or horizontal and vertical directions. A full machine enclosure meets CE specifications and ensures a dry floor environment.

Robust construction features include heavily reinforced columns and beds. The hydrostatic ram, with 2.5 m stroke, combines wear-free reliability and high rigidity with high vibration damping and thermal symmetry. Full X-axis ram travel allows probing the outside diameter of parts, ensuring highest measurement accuracy, and the large swing capacity better accommodates asymmetric parts, part loading, and operator access. A rail-mounted toolchanger allows for fast, easy tool changes. The rail-mount design, in conjunction with the horizontal and vertical movement of the operator platform, facilitates tool maintenance during the machining cycle. Extended tool magazines are available, too.

Adjustable-rail machine models use twin linear scales on the W axis to ensure precise parallelism between the cross slide and table at all height positions. Available feed thrust in X and Z axes is 45,000 N (10,116 lbs). Linear positioning accuracy in X and Z axes is 0.015 mm (0.0006"), with repeatability of 0.010 mm (0.0004"). Options include a right-angle head and live spindle to allow milling, drilling, tapping and other machining operations, all in the same fixturing. Full contouring with C-axis enables drilling or mill turning of features anywhere on the workpiece, with contouring/positioning by a 360,000-position table. A new automatically changed grinding attachment adds surface finishing to the one-stop processing capabilities of MAG VTC's, allowing finishing of ID, OD and plane surfaces on parts. MAG Industrial Automation will feature turning centers at IMTS in Chicago.